Sneaky Lil’ Hostgator & Blog Posts of The Week 18 
Posted by Udegbunam Chukwudi on July - 9 - 2010
It’s been a great week both @ work and online. I think I might finally be launching a paid service. I’m thinking of going the blog setup services and blogger to wordpress migration service path. At the moment, I’m helping my roommate setup his first site. I can’t wait to be done with the site so I can show it to the world and get your reactions 
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As always, I shall be setting up his blog with a free theme as I’ve done with this blog
This week was almost ruined by the news that Hostgator was slyly adding links to their hosting service via the WP-Super Cache plug-in which is now included with each new Fantastico installation of wordpress: HostGator Automatically Adding Plugins to WordPress. It’s somewhat worrisome that they would succumb to such sneaky ways to make sales given that they have such an awesome reputation online.
I’ve always been aware of Hostgator’s monetization of my Error 404 pages but after reading this post HostGator Monetize with Default 404 Page, I decided to create my own Error Page which I’m loving by the way .
Having just one autoresponder can backfire, Welly Mulia explains Why You Should Use More Than 1 Autoresponder Service. This post explains how to move from one autoresponder to another without having your subscribers to reconfirm their subscription to your list .
I’m a huge fan of the celebrity lifestyle thus it was quite easy for me to like Tia Peterson’s Internet Paparazzi: The 4 Best Ways to Catch Their Attention. Internet Paparazzi are the ones that could make or break your business in a flash so pay attention to them just as Hollywood celebs do .
BTW, Can someone please ask the Indian Neelkamal Pandey | Business Manager of Shreeweb Bulk SMS to quit using my contact form to bombard me with his sales letters. He has even gone as far as auto-adding me to his email list 
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My facebook and offline friends know I swear a lot and don’t plan on retiring that habit soon but Karen has decided to share some funny Ways Of Curbing Our Bad Language!.
Finally you can now create a contact form for your wordpress blog without a plug-in by following Jean-Baptiste Jung’s guide; How to create a built-in contact form for your WordPress theme.
Have a great weekend guys
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Udegbunam, the topic that hostgator is monetizing with 404 is been discussed in forums from around a month, and i have also heard that they have also added banner ads in their control panels. Although i don’t have any site in their server but for sure they are loosing the reputation.
Considering the quality of service that they offer for their not so cheap webhosting, I doubt if this is affecting their business in the same way it would affect another business without a solid foundation.
Naughty Hostgator.. How crazy of them to try something like that. I’m sure they don’t need to do that to get new customers. They have resellers everywhere selling for them.
That’s what I really don’t understand. With tons of affiliates promoting their hosting services online, why go the sneaky route? This apparently has been going on since 2007 so I thought if they’ll be retiring these antics soon. I guess they probably figured out that we just love their services and can’t really do without it.
SWEET! I made the list!
Good idea about the 3 solid comments before dofollow. I’m going to have to contemplate that now.
Um, about that “Indian Neelkamal Pandey | Business Manager of Shreeweb Bulk SMS”… that’s actually me.
Just kidding.
Cheers,
Tia
LOL. You got there for a second. I was kinda like WTF! I thought she knew better than this! lol
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The whole 3 solid comments before dofollow had to come into place to keep the “lazy” backlink chasers and spammers away. If they need a dofollow backlink, they’ve just got to earn it
Thanks for the retweet
Interesting blast of the top posts – I am chewing over a number of the nuggets you plowed through. One of which is that you created your own 404 error page?
I’m not a guru by any stretch – but what would the point be? How would you monetize a 404? “The page you are trying to reach does not exist…but man, I’ve got this mean blender that makes the best Pina Coladas…!”
I’ve just never seen one used in any way that would be beneficial.
Looks like a great blog – mine is also dofollow, on self-hosted WP, and I’m wondering: how do you make it so your readers have to comment three times first? Is that a plugin or just voodoo? =)
LOL. I get your point. I really don’t understand how folks could make money from monetizing a 404 page. The visitor who lands on that page most probably doesn’t have the time or luxury to be viewing your affiliate offer. Then again if Hostgator has been @ it for years now, it probably works for them since they offer a 404 discount coupon on those pages.
I created my own 404 page but didn’t monetize it. All I added to it was Google Custom Search, to enable the visitor find the post he/she was looking for in the first place. The search results would probably be the monetising part as the page has got Adsense ads @ the top and bottom
I don’t make my readers have to comment thrice for their comments to go live. Rather they have to comment thrice for their links to go dofollow. It ain’t voodoo. It’s Jennifer R’s Link Love WordPress Plugin
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Concerning hostgator, you guys caused it, we rant about their efficiency, so they are simply taking you guys for the ride, so of us would not so good at technicaL things, please how do I even locate my error page?
I really don’t know how to locate the 404 error page. All I do know is that you can create one for yourself and activate it via htaccess. I’ll probably write a post on that soon
Ah, thanks for the clarification re: WP plugin, voodoo, and 404 error pages (oh my!). Good stuff.